This document (Adobe Acrobat format) outlines a legal ruing in the EU that seems to open the door for resale of digitally distributed software (thanks Joao). Here's a bit:

Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right. Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy.

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Mr. Tact wrote on Jul 3, 2012, 16:22:Bookends -- I have bookends on my shelf that are as good as the day I bought them. Are they not mine? Can I not sell them?

The economy surrounding media can't be directed related to material manufactured goods. The design, manufacturing, costs and restrictions are just to different to use this sort of logic.

Video games can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000,00 to design, product and distribute. My numbers are a little arbitrary but imagine comparing the development of Braid to the development of Assassin's Creed. Taking that situation, you'll sell copies of Braid for $10 a piece but copies of Assassin's Creed go for $60 a piece. Apply that to bookends and that doesn't seem fair. If one bookend cost 6,000 times more to design, develop and distribute than another, you'd expect it to cost at least 6,000 times more.

Then take into account that a large amount of the cost in developing the bookend lies in its manufacturing, materials and shipping whereas with media you have all of the cost bound up in design with the rest being very minor and you begin to see the difference and reason why these aren't the same situations and need different regulations.

Hell. Just wait until 3D Printers become mainstream. Then you'll see all this shit coming about with manufactured products as well. LEGO will throw a bitch fit about people making their own.